Boys basketball | Class 2A state preview

Day after day, the sophomore would approach his coach with the same question.

"Do I have a letter?"

The answer was as consistent as Dominique Walls was persistent.

"I never got one," Walls said of the college mail he coveted.

Now at the end of his junior season, the athletic 6-foot-4 forward is starting to gain the attention he expected throughout last winter.

Coming off a terrific showing in Hales' 70-55 victory over Timothy Christian in a Class 2A supersectional on Tuesday, the Spartans' best interior defender has a golden opportunity to make a name for himself at 8:15 p.m. Friday. He'll match up with Illinois-bound 7-footer Meyers Leonard, of Robinson (25-5), in a 2A state semifinal in Peoria.

"I am real excited about that," he said.

That's how everyone involved with Hales basketball felt about Walls when he scored 28 points in the season opener.

The total is still a career high 30 games later, in large part because Hales (29-2) has a pair of high-scoring guards (Patrick Miller and Jamie Adams) and a talented brother tandem (Aaron and Aaric Armstead) to handle most of the offensive load.

Walls averages 7.4 points a game, mostly on offensive rebounds like the three thunderous dunks he threw down while putting up eight points, 13 rebounds and four blocks against Timothy Christian.

"He had a tremendous game the first game of the season, and we thought that's what we were going to get," Hales coach Gary London said. "He's been really strong on the interior and is a very important player for us."

Walls said he's sacrificed numbers for the good of the team.

"I can hit the open shot, but I just try to do what the team needs me to do, run the court, get rebound putbacks, dunk on people," he said. "Sometimes it got frustrating, but I understand what I'm supposed to do."

He's learning the virtue of patience off the court, as well. After he stopped asking London about the mail, a letter came with Walls' name on it.

"It was from Eastern Michigan," Walls said. "I was really excited when I found out. I want more."